Whatever Happened to Dr Zyme?
by Bill Hiers
Summary: Oft-overlooked Megakat Biochemical Labs researcher Dr. Zyme was thought to have been killed by one of Dr. Viper's giant bacteria monsters, but fate had other ideas for him.
1. Mondays

Newton Zyme hated Mondays. It wasn't that he minded getting up early in the morning. As a child, he had always eagerly gotten up early for school, and later, college. As the head researcher, Zyme's primary job was to see that Megakat Biochemical was run as smoothly as possible. He just hated Mondays because there was always so much to do, and a large majority of it couldn't be done until the other researchers arrived. And what a bunch of layabouts they were! Zyme thought as he fussed about in the main lab, getting things ready for his employees to be able to do their work.

What few of them there were, anyway. Megakat Biochemical was horrendously understaffed these days. In the wake of Elrod Purvis' transformation into Dr. Viper, most of the lab's staff had elected to quit their jobs rather than come to work not knowing whether they'd be attacked by a mutated half cat, half snake mad scientist, or worse, eaten by one of the many freaks of nature he created.

So despite the building's size, it had a staff of less than 100 people, half of them security personnel. With the exception of Selby and his friend whose name Zyme could never remember, most of the guards were the only dependable employees of the lab. Selby and his friend tended to just sit around and eat donuts. Zyme had a feeling they would come to a bad end one day due to their inattentiveness. Thus, aside from the night guards waiting for their shift to change, Zyme was alone in the building.

But he wouldn't be for long. Hearing the sound of an approaching helicopter, Zyme glanced up and out the window and saw a lone Enforcer chopper flying towards the building, from the direction of the park where, Zyme knew, some sort of celebration was being held. The chopper flew overhead and Zyme thought it landed on the roof. Zyme frowned, wondering what this could mean.

Since Dr. Viper's first appearance Zyme had mostly withdrawn from the public. He'd never had much of a social life prior to that, but, since his experience at the hands of his mutated former assistant, he'd become considerably less buoyant and didn't attend as many conventions or meetings, and completely threw himself into his work at the lab, even more-so than before. He wasn't even aware of the refinery bombings that had happened just yesterday afternoon. His health had begun to suffer as a result. He ate less, and had lost a lot of weight. He was seeing a psychiatrist, as well.

At the thought of Viper, Zyme glanced over at a small table in the far corner. Its lone occupant was an Erlenmeyer flask of water with a rose in it, with a tall glass dome barrier over it. The rose was mutated, possessing a four-fanged mouth and a lapping forked tongue. Zyme had kept the thing as a reminder of the Viper Mutagen project.

He heard the sound of the elevator dinging in the hallway, and a moment later a party of four cats came into the room. He smiled. Commander Feral was leading them. Behind him were Mayor Manx, Deputy Mayor Briggs, and an Enforcer whose name Zyme did not know. He was wearing a helmet and a radio headset, so Zyme guessed he was the helicopter pilot. They all looked extremely solemn; Manx in particular looked positively terrified. Zyme instantly knew something was wrong. He left the rose's table and walked to the center of the room to meet them.

"Good morning, Commander," he said as they approached.

"No time for idle chit-chat, Dr. Zyme," Feral snapped, holding up a hand. "We've got serious trouble."

"Trouble?" Zyme said. "What sort of trouble?"

"Well--" Feral began.

He was immediately cut off by the Mayor who shoved past him and walked right up to Zyme, waving his arms wildly. Manx yelled, "There's these huge purple things and they're headed right this way! I don't even know what we're doing here!" He shot an angry look at Commander Feral. Clearly, Hizzoner disliked having to be at what would soon be ground zero for a monster attack.

"Purple things? What on Earth are you talking about?" Zyme said, blinking.

Feral stepped up. "We don't know what they are. But they're big and getting bigger every minute. And worse, whenever we shoot them they split apart into more! I found out that out the hard way. Basically, Doctor, we need your help to figure out what they are and how to kill them."

The Mayor roughly grabbed Zyme by the front of his lab coat, shaking him wildly, wailing, "You've got to do something, Dr. Zyme! Before those big purple globs destroy my beautiful city!" Feral grabbed the Mayor's shoulders and shook him until he released Zyme, who staggered back a bit, dizzied by Manx's outburst.

Feral shooed Hizzoner towards the door. "Why don't you go out and wait in the hall, Mayor? And try to stay calm."

"Calm?" Manx said. "At a time like this?! You're crazy!" Gibbering in fear, he turned and ran from the lab, leaving the other four alone.

Zyme sighed, rubbing his temples, feelings the first pangs of a headache coming on. He really, really hated Mondays. "How soon until they get here?" he asked.

Feral looked past him. "About a minute-and-a-half. Look!" He pointed.

Zyme turned and looked out the huge front windows of the lab to see two huge purple-colored organisms stomping down the street, headed right for the lab! They were vaguely humanoid in shape, with arms and legs, and have enormous, black gaping-wide mouths that were...smiling? Both of the huge monsters were grinning, no, leering evilly as they approached. Those smiles gave Zyme the chills. Mustering his courage he approached the window, which ran from floor to ceiling; in fact, this entire wall of the main lab was glass, consisting of two of these huge windows. Zyme wasn't worried, though. Since the incident when the SWAT Kats smashed through one window, then knocked Dr. Viper out the other, Zyme had both windows refitted with shatterproof armored glass.

He looked at the two monsters. They looked like giant germs! The one on the left had one huge, cycloptic eye, while the one on the right had two eyes. Never in his life had Zyme seen something so disgusting and terrifying, and yet, at the same time, so fascinating. Only one person could have created these things. Only Dr. Viper had such a knack for these kinds of mutations.

Clearing his throat, he turned to Feral, Briggs and the pilot, saying, "They appear to be giant bacteria!"

They all frowned in disgust. Callie went over to the window as Zyme walked away from it, going over to Feral and the pilot. He stroked his practically nonexistent chin, thinking. Obviously, the best way to deal with giant germs was with a large quantity of antibiotics. Luckily, the lab had a bulk supply. In fact, there was some in a few flasks on a nearby worktable, which Zyme went to. The antibiotics were part of someone's experiment, but Zyme figured that the impending attack by huge monsters overrode that particular scientist's work.

"On such short notice, this is the best I can do," he said, picking up one of the flasks and holding up for the others to see. Feral in particular looked very interested, and leaned in close, eyeing the flask's contents. "It contains the most powerful antibiotics known," Zyme continued. "Hopefully, it should stop them."

"It better work," said Callie Briggs over by the window. "Because those things are heading straight for us!"

Zyme handed the flask off to Commander Feral, who turned and handed it to the pilot. The pilot frowned, unsure of just what he was supposed to do with it. Zyme walked over to the window, smiling, feeling confident about the building's defenses. Although ineffective against penetration by cat-sized individuals, Megakat Biochemical was impervious to attack from anything too big to fit through the front door. Or at least Zyme thought so anyway.

"Don't worry, Miss Briggs," he assured her. She backed away from the window, but he stopped her, putting an arm around her, making her step back up to the glass. "These windows are practically indestructible!" To emphasize his point, he knocked on the glass which made a dull clunking sound. Callie didn't looked convinced, but she'd soon see. Just wait for one of those monsters to try and smash through, Zyme thought.

Outside, the two foremost of the laser cannons swivelled around to meet the approaching bacteria monsters. These were Megakat Biochemical's primary defenses against attack. They fired, blasting through the monsters' bodies. This didn't seem to have much effect, though. Apart from their eyes, the germs appeared to lack any vital organs and were just composed of the mushy purple slime all the way through. The lasers passed harmlessly through them.

Zyme frowned, and his frown deepened when the one-eyed monster suddenly lifted up its huge gooey hand and smashed the first cannon to bits in one blow! He quickly realized that against these creatures, at least, the building's laser cannons were not going to be effective. He turned away from the window, leaving Callie there, and went over to Commander Feral and the pilot, who was still holding the flask of antibiotics.

"How are we going to deliver it?" asked Feral as they heard the muffled explosion that signified the destruction of the second laser cannon.

"I have a large hypodermic needle with I think can be rigged to fire from your helicopter," Zyme said said. He took the flask from the pilot.

Feral nodded. "Let's get to it, then. I just hope we have time!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Viper waited down in the sewer for the bacteria monsters to finish destroying all of the cannons that defended Megakat Biochemical. Although he correctly predicted they'd be of little use against his creations, better safe than sorry. After hearing the last explosion, he climbed up the ladder and popped the manhole cover, peering out. The coast was clear. Katalyst 99 would be his! All of the cannons were destroyed. Knocking the cover off, Viper literally launched himself out of the manhole and landed deftly on his feet. He only saw two bacteria monsters. Where was the third one, the second, single-eyed bacteria? Viper shrugged inwardly. Probably off somewhere else having fun, he guessed.

He had to note the irony of this particular sewer access point. Not only was it the manhole he'd used to arrive at Megakat Biochemical immediately following Purvis' resurrection and transformation into Dr. Viper, it had also provided the means for his escape after his first encounter, and first defeat, at the hands of the SWAT Kats.

"While the bacteria wreak havoc, I will raid the labsss," Viper hissed, and strutted confidently towards the front entrance of the building. Impenetrable? No. More like ludicrously easy to get into! The defenses of the building were a joke, designed around large-scale assaults, not to mention creatures who could actually be injured by getting shot.

Speaking of the bacteria, as he pushed through the front door and entered the lobby, Viper thought about how much easier it would've been had the original bacteria, the one that used to be Morbulus, continued through the sewer and used the manhole outside Megakat Biochemical instead of jumping the gun and popping up in the park. Viper was finding these creatures extremely difficult to control, unlike his other creations. He suppose it was due to what little remained of Morbulus' mind, being defiant to the end, but it didn't matter.

Although the first monster leaving the sewer too soon had delayed the robbery and set Viper's schedule back at least a good twenty or thirty minutes, he'd gained three monsters due to the first's unexpected ability to fission into two creatures when hit with enough force. So, he was running late, but it was no matter. Three monsters would keep the SWAT Kats and the Enforcers busy long enough for him to obtain Katalyst 99 and get out of there before anyone could stop him.

There was no one at the front desk. He soon found out why when he heard a toilet flush and a security guard emerged from the men's room. Viper did not recognize him. He was wearing a different uniform from that old fool Abel, and was one of the new guards from a new security company who Zyme had hired.

"What's all the racket out here?" he demanded.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Viper, and quickly went for the gun on his hip. Viper was faster. One swipe of his tail sent the guard sailing across the lobby and smashing into the far wall with a dull thud. Viper didn't bother with him any more and went immediately to the stairwell. This was way too easy. Viper almost regretted using his biggest, baddest monster to date for something as mundane as a robbery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's all loaded, Commander!" Zyme yelled, lowering the jack he'd used to attach the three-foot hypo to the bottom of the Enforcer chopper sitting on the rooftop helipad. He stood back, the wind from the already-spinning rotor blades whipping his hair around wildly. He'd rigged the enormous syringe with rocket so that it could be launched like a missile from the chopper. If this proved successful, Zyme had another one just like it. Feral need only to return to reload.

Commander Feral stood in the side door of the chopper. "Good," he said, and then turned to the pilot seated up front and was about to tell him to take off when they suddenly heard a sudden cry from off to the left.

"Wait! I'm coming too" Both Zyme and Feral turned to see Mayor Manx come charging out of the stairwell door and race across the roof. He jumped up into the side of the chopper, but didn't quite make it. He hung there half in and half out of the chopper, legs kicking frantically as he tried, without success, to pull himself up. "I don't want to be around here if this stuff doesn't work!"

Zyme scowled, disgusted by the Mayor's lack of confidence in his idea, as well as his cowardice. This was the Mayor of Megakat City who'd somehow been re-elected nine times? Feral seemed to share his sentiments, because, after the Mayor finally managed to pull his chubby self up into the chopper, he growled, "You're a coward, Manx!"

Manx held up a finger. "You don't get to be Mayor for ten terms without bein' cautious!"

The door closed, and Zyme stood back as the helicopter lifted off and flew away. Once it was safe to do so, Zyme walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down. Both of the bacteria monsters were just sort of standing there, milling around, not doing very much. One of them, the two-eyed one, grabbed a parked car and stuffed it into its mouth, eating it in one huge bite. "Ew," Zyme said, grimacing.

Suddenly he heard the roar of jet engines and turned to see a black and red fighter jet approaching the scene. The Turbokat, he believed it was called. It was the SWAT Kats! Where in the world had they been all this time? Despite saving him from being mutated by Viper long ago, Zyme didn't really think too highly of the vigilantes. Their methods were far too destructive. There had been enough damage to the lab already, and Zyme wasn't going to stand for any further demolition.

He watched as the Turbokat flew down towards the two-eyed bacteria monster and launched a missile at it. Initially Zyme thought that the SWAT Kats did not know of the monsters' ability to divide, but then the casing of the missile broke apart, revealing an electrical conductor, sparking with electricity. The bacteria eagerly caught the missile in its mouth and wolfed it down. A few seconds later there were bluish electrical bolts surging all over its body, as it convulsed hideously and then finally exploded, and was reduced to a pile of ash.

Zyme stroked his chin. "Hmm," he said, "that was effective." He watched as Commander Feral's chopper swooped down at the remaining bacteria monster, the one with a single eye.

Wanting to watch this up close, Zyme turned and ran back downstairs to the main lab where he found Callie Briggs still standing at the window. He joined her. Just as he did, the bacteria monster came over and peered in at them, allowing Zyme to see its gruesome visage up close. Callie clung to him fearfully, and her to her, the two of them frozen in place as they giant eyeball scrutinized them like they were bugs in a jar.

Suddenly, its attention was grabbed by the approaching Enforcer chopper, and it turned away. Zyme felt a tremendous surge of relief at this. Looking at the creature's eye made him suspect that perhaps it wasn't entirely a germ. It seemed to him that it might have originally been some other kind of animal, or worse, perhaps even another cat, before Dr. Viper mutated it.

The giant hypo was launched from Feral's chopper and the bacteria caught it in its mouth. It turned greyish-brown and began to shrivel up. It was dying! Triumphantly, Zyme threw his fists into the air, shouting, "It worked!"

Meanwhile, Dr. Viper emerged from the stairwell on the fourteenth floor and hurried down the hall to the open doors of the main lab. He arrived in time to hear Newton Zyme yell, "It worked!" He saw Zyme and that annoying Callie Briggs over by one of the windows, looking out at one of the bacteria monsters which had turned a kind of greyish color and looked like it was a dried-up grey raisin. How odd.

Then, he grinned, realizing what was happening. They'd used antibiotics against the monster. He chuckled darkly, knowing the truth. "You were alwaysss an arrogant fool, Dr. Zyme!" he said aloud. Both Zyme and Callie turned towards him, wide-eyed. "My bacteria is immune to antibioticsss!"

Indeed, Viper had thought ahead. The effects of the antibiotic formula would last only a few seconds, and then the bacteria would return to normal. Outside, the hardened shell around the creature was already beginning to crumble away.

Zyme and Callie were so fixated on Viper that neither of them noticed the bacteria coming back to life. But it noticed them. Zyme, shaking uneasily, stepped back, getting behind Callie so that she was between himself and Viper, and bumped into the window, knocking the back of his head against it.

Terror filled the biochemist. This was the first time he had seen Viper since that fateful day. The cycloptic, grinning visage of the bacteria monster loomed right behind him, but he didn't notice. Viper grinned evilly at this. Zyme blinked, unsure of precisely what it was the mutant snake-cat was grinning about, but then Callie turned and saw the monster behind them. Noticing her look, Zyme spun around just as the huge, slimy purple hand reached up and collided with the window and shattered the glass!

Zyme couldn't believe it! That glass was designed to withstand almost anything! The strength of Viper's bacteria monster was amazing! It wasn't just a giant bacteria; it was a super giant bacteria. Zyme threw up his arms up in front of his face, shielding himself from the flying shards of glass as Callie turned and ran away. When Zyme lowered his arms and looked up, he gave a small cry as he saw the bacteria looking down at him. Unable to move, he simply screamed as the mouth opened, thick strands of purple slime connecting the upper and lower jaws, and then the head bent down towards him. He threw up his arms again in a futile effort to defend himself as the huge shadow fell across him, and he knew he was done for.

Viper stood by and watched as the bacteria monster prepared to eat Newton Zyme, and was unsure about precisely how he felt about this. True, Zyme was his enemy, but then he remembered why he had originally spared Zyme rather than killing him himself in the first place. He felt that Zyme's brilliant, if misguided, mind would be a useful thing to have at his disposal once he ruled Megakat City. And if the giant bacteria ate Zyme, that wouldn't happen! He was entertaining the thought of yelling for the creature to stop when suddenly he turned and went over to where the katalysts were kept. He didn't need Zyme. He was brilliant enough on his own.

Zyme stood, shivering, face still covered, unable to look. The horrible grinning maw of the bacteria had actually been right over him, upper lip behind him and lower lip in front of him, and had he looked he would've been able to see right down its "throat." But the monster was distracted from its meal by the annoying Enforcer chopper, which it turned and swatted at with its hand. Slowly, Zyme looked. The bacteria monster was moving away, following the retreating chopper. It hadn't eaten him. He was alive. Not wanting to risk his life any further, the middle-aged scientist spun around and ran from the lab. He shoved past Callie Briggs in his panic, charging through the doors and into the hall, making for the stairwell. Behind him he heard Callie telling Dr. Viper he wasn't going to get away with this.

Viper, for his part, had been pretty much ignoring the both them, gleefully gathering up an armload of jars containing Katalyst 99. Five, six, seven, he soon had nine in all, and was grabbing a tenth when he heard Callie behind him say, "You won't get away with this, Dr. Viper!"

Ugh, that annoying bitch, he thought, turning and glaring angrily at her. Aside from the SWAT Kats, no one annoyed him more than the Deputy Mayor. He'd considered her a self-righteous little cunt even back when he was still Elrod Purvis and she visited the lab with the Mayor. Oh, how he was suddenly filled with the urge to kill her.

"No, Miss Briggssss," he snarled, "it'sss you who won't get away!"

Before she could react he whipped out his tail and grabbed her with it, dragging the screaming blonde she-kat over to himself. She didn't put up much of a fight. Zyme had struggled harder than she was back when he'd grabbed him with his tail. Nevertheless, she was struggling all the same, and it only annoyed him further, so he tightened his coils, which silenced her. He began to contemplate how he would dispose of her when suddenly the Turbokat shot past the broken window, startling him. He turned, watching it go by.

So, the SWAT Kats were here, too, were they? What was this? he thought. A fucking reunion? This changed things. Now, he could no longer afford to kill Callie. Now, he needed her as a hostage, which meant continuing to put up with her bullshit and perhaps even let her go if that was what it would take for him to escape with Katalyst 99.

Zyme was nowhere to be seen. Viper figured the bacteria monster had gotten him. He was about to leave with his armload of Katalyst 99 and his hostage when suddenly he turned and looked through the second, unbroken window of the lab and saw the Turbokat flying towards him. Aw, shit! This was not good! Before he could even think about moving the Turbokat flew through the window, completely destroying the day's second set of armored glass, and landed in the middle of the lab. The force of its entrance was enough to both cause Viper to drop both his hostage and the canisters of Katalyst 99, and fling him bodily across the room where he smacked into the wall and slid down into an upright sitting position, dazed.

The canopy of the jet opened and T-Bone got out, leaping down and landing beside Callie, helping her to her feet. "Game's over, Dr. Viper," he declared, pointing to Razor who had what appeared to be a rocket launcher covering Viper.

Dr. Viper really hated Mondays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newton Zyme was so completely out of breath by the time he finally made it down to the ground level of the building, that after charging through the stairwell door he literally fell forwards onto the floor of the lobby, gasping for breath. He lay there unmoving for a while, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly there was a muffled explosion, and the entire building shook as though a bomb had gone off somewhere. Jolted, Zyme looked up, and then saw, through the front doors of the lobby, flaming debris landing out front.

What had happened? Glancing over, he noticed one of the guards, named Deemer, lying over by the wall. His compassion for another cat superseding his exhaustion, Zyme rose to his feet and walked over, kneeling down beside the body. He checked his pulse. Deemer was alive, just unconscious. He had a nasty-looking bump on his head and his hair was matted with blood. The dent in the wall told Zyme the guard had been flung into it.

Grabbing the unconscious Deemer and began struggling to drag the larger cat to the front entrance. He wasn't overweight or anything, but very muscular, and therefore heavy. However using all of his strength, Zyme managed to do it. But when he reached the door he found it blocked by the fiery debris. Setting the guard down he tried the door. It opened a few inches before banging into a chunk of concrete. Trapped! They would just have to wait until rescue came.

Hearing Deemer moan, Zyme turned, and noticed he was starting to awaken, but was still groggy. Suddenly the stairwell door opened. Zyme saw Dr. Viper emerge, a few containers of Katalyst 99 in his arms. His hair was smoking, his fur blackened with soot, and his lab coat was singed. He looked really pissed. Zyme reflexively yelped, which got Viper's attention, making him look over.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of Zyme, who he realized had managed to escape from the bacteria. He, himself, had just barely managed to escape from the burning lab before the flames reached the stores of chemicals, causing an explosion that, Viper thought, took out the entire fourteenth floor. He'd been forced to sacrifice two canisters of Katalyst 99 in order to ensure that this would happen, by shaking them up and throwing them, which started the fire. It had spread quicker than he thought it would, and he'd only managed to get out with six jars of the stuff. Six was better than nothing, he figured.

Now, he eyed Zyme. That guard he'd knocked aside earlier was at his feet. How cute. Zyme was trying to help him. But with the door blocked by debris from the destroyed fourteenth floor, neither of them was going anywhere. And since it would take a while for any rescue attempts to get through all that, Viper could take his time. Composing himself, doing his best to look intimidating even though he was just as exhausted and haggard as Zyme was, Viper walked slowly over to them.

"Hello, Newton," he said. "Did you missss me?" He sneered.

Zyme gulped. Nothing had changed since their last encounter. Zyme still got weak in the knees shook with terror in Viper's presence. Viper chuckled darkly. He enjoyed putting fear into Zyme. And now, he was in a position to ensure that he'd be able to do this anytime he wanted. He decided, on the spot, that he would take Zyme with him as his prisoner, back to the swamp, and keep him there. He'd force him to be his assistant, just as Purvis had been Zyme's assistant all those years, and make his life a living hell.

"Get away from me!" Zyme said, circling around, moving away from Viper who continued on his previous path, stopping at the feet of the unconscious security guard.

"Aw, why don't you want to ssspend more time with me?" Viper said, turning around to face Zyme. "There'sss nowhere to run, Zyme. And thisss time, there's no SWAT Katssss to come and sssave you from me. Now, you're all mine!"

His tail whipped out and seized Zyme, dragging him over as the older biochemist shrieked and struggled. Yup. He was putting up more of a fight than Callie had, definitely. "No!" he yelled. "Put me down this instant, Purvis! I demand that you put me down, you--you--you...you vile murderer!"

Viper chuckled. "Awww, but Doctor," he said, eyes narrowing. "we have sssso much to catch up on!"

Zyme wiggled fiercely, shaking his head, clearly terrified but determined to resist. He was not going to surrender to Viper! "I won't go anywhere with you, Purvis!"

Viper scowled. Not at Zyme calling him by his old name. He'd long given up on persuading Zyme to refer to him by his new moniker of Dr. Viper. No, he was annoyed at the idea of Zyme resisting. All the way through the sewer, and then all the way through the swamp to his tree. He was getting a headache just thinking about it. He had no doubts he could make Zyme see his point of view once they were completely alone out in the swamp, with not another soul around for miles, but after everything he'd been through this morning he was not in the mood to put up with Zyme's bitching. Suddenly, he got an idea. Grinning wickedly, he lowered Zyme and set him back down on the floor and his coils released him.

Zyme looked confused, but then Viper's tail slithered over and wrapped around Deemer's barely conscious form, lifting the dazed guard up into the air. Zyme watched in horror. "What are you doing?" he demanded to know.

Viper sneered. "Either you come willingly with me, or he diesss." The coils tightened a bit around Deemer and he groaned in pain.

Zyme blanched, covering his mouth, unsure of what to do. If he didn't do as Viper said, then an innocent guard was going to die! He remembered how guilty he had felt about causing Purvis' death, even though it was purely accidental, and he didn't want to have another life on his hands. He had only one choice. He sighed and lowered his head, clenching his fists. "Do you promise not to kill him if I go with you?" he asked.

Viper knew instantly that he had won. It was smooth sailing from here on, provided his second captive didn't go ballistic if he woke up on the way home. "Yesss," he answered, pausing to remove the gun from the guard's hip holster with his free hand. It might come in handy, and it was best not left in Deemer's possession, obviously. "I sssswear I will not kill him, if you will cooperate and return to my home with me."

Zyme nodded and then looked up, tears welling in his eyes. He was filled with intense dread. His next words sealed his fate. "All right, then. I, uh, I'll go with you."

"Grand!" Viper said. 


	2. To the Swamp

Hoisting Deemer a bit more for easier carrying, Viper started across the lobby to a door that led to the basement. "Come on, we can't go out the front. We'll use the sssewer entrance down in the basement."

He nudged the door open with his elbow, and turned, looking at Zyme expectantly. "Well?" he said. Giving a great, heaving sigh, Zyme walked over and, at Viper's insistence, went down the short flight of steps first.

Viper followed, leaving the door hanging open. There was the manhole cover, right where Viper remembered it was. It led into the building's cistern, and that led to the sewers. "You open it, I don't have any handsss free," he ordered Zyme.

Zyme nodded, and stooped down next to the manhole and, with some effort, grunted and lifted the cover off. A foul stench assaulted his nose. He'd never been down in a sewer before in his life. The smell reminded me of the way Viper had smelled, when he'd originally come back from the dead. Once again, Viper made Zyme go down first, and Zyme carefully made his way down a ladder. He could hear running water and the squeaking of rats, but beyond the beam of light streaming through the opened manhole everything was absolutely pitch dark.

Zyme waited at the bottom for Viper, who simply jumped down, as climbing down while carrying a gun, six canister of Katalyst 99, and an unconscious security guard would've been a real hassle. Luckily Viper was graceful enough that he landed gingerly, without shaking up the canisters. Unlike Zyme, Viper could see in the dark perfectly.

He smiled, inhaling the sweet, sweet smell of sewage and grime. This was where he was at home. Up on the surface, inside modern buildings and on city streets, he was not at home, and for more reasons than simply disliking being stared at. His transformation was more than simply physical. It had changed him mentally and psychologically as well. Not only had the relatively mediocre and uninspired scientist Purvis been instantly transformed into a super-genius, but he had also developed certain new instincts and tastes. Among these, was an inexplicable preference for places that were dark, warm and dank. Next to the swamp and his hideout there, the sewer was the next best place.

"All right," he said, "let'sss go. We've got a long walk ahead of usss."

It was a long walk. Long enough for Deemer to have awakened. His head injury made struggling difficult, so Viper did not have to put up with a lot of kicking and squirming. Here was where the gun came in handy. After explaining things to the guard, Viper told him and Zyme to walk in front of him the rest of the way, following his vocal directions while he kept the pistol pointed at their backs.

In this fashion the three journeyed through the sewer and, finally, emerged in Megakat Swamp through a giant corrugated drain pipe that emptied raw sewage into the marshlands. Zyme, walking in front, shielded his eyes from the sudden bright sunshine after spending so much time in the darkness of the tunnels.

Behind him, he heard Viper say, "Quit ssstalling, Zyme."

He climbed down from the pipe and walked forwards, stopping near the shore where the vast lake of shallow water and mud that comprised the swamps. Immediately his feet sank into the soft mud to the ankles. "Ugh," he said, and pulled one foot free, only to discover that the shoe had come off and was still in the mud. Working more carefully with his other foot, he managed to extract it without the show coming off, and went over and helped Deemer climb down.

"Yuck," Deemer said, looking at the swamp.

Viper emerged from the pipe last of all and gave a deep, long sigh, puffing his chest out and adopting a regal pose as if he were a king returning his kingdom after years of absence. Finally! He was back in his swamp at long last. He hated leaving it. Even though the sewers were dark and dank to his liking, they couldn't compare to the beauty of his beloved swamp. Here, the light was dim and foggy, like perpetual twilight. There were eerie howls and cries in the distance. It was like another dimension, and Viper loved it. It was one of several reasons why he wished more than anything to expand his swamp into Megakat City.

Looking down he noticed Zyme and the guard looking up at him, worriedly but expectantly. Back to business. Getting down, he stood before them, smirking, then motioned with the gun. "My houssse is a few milesss from here. We can make it before sssundown if we hurry. Which meansss no dawdling!"

Deemer nodded fearfully, while Zyme went and began trying to dig his shoe out of the mud where his foot had sunk in, but was unsuccessful. To his puzzlement and annoyance, he couldn't find it. All it got him as muddy hands. He grimaced and shook them, flinging most of the mud off, and wiping the rest off on his pants. Viper chuckled, watching him, thoroughly enjoying how obviously uncomfortable Zyme was with his new surroundings. Now the tables were turned, he thought. Now, Zyme was the one who was the freak and stuck out like a sore thumb in his neatly pressed pants and pristine white lab coat.

After a few more moments of standing there, they moved on. Again with Zyme in the front and Viper bringing up the rear, they waded into the marsh. Depending on where they were the water could be either ankle-deep, knee-deep, or even chest-deep, as poor Deemer found out when he fell into a small but deep hole in the marsh bed.

"Help! Help!" he yelled, flailing, "I can't swim!" Zyme came to his rescue, pulling the struggling guard back into the shallow part of the swamp.

Viper chuckled, then motioned with the gun and they moved on. In the distance was Viper's home. It was an enormous, twisted dead tree, one of several dotting the swamp and, in fact, the largest. Midway, Zyme lost his other shoe, and they stopped as Deemer took his off, too. In their socks, they continued until they finally arrived at the base of the tree, which was at least twelve stories tall. Alongside it Viper had build a crude dock of sorts, onto which they climbed.

Zyme frowned. He knew, obviously, that Viper lived inside the tree, but couldn't see any entrance. Then he noticed a rope ladder hanging down and looked up. The ladder went up to a large knot in the side of the tree, which served as a natural balcony of sorts. The front door to Viper's home was there, high above the swamp floor.

"Now what?" said Deemer.

"Up," Viper said, pointing with the gun.

Zyme went up first. It was difficult for him, being so out of shape, to hoist himself up. Halfway up he stopped, panting, but Deemer, behind him, pushed up and helped him climb the rest of the way. Viper stood below for a moment, watching them climb. Looking at the gun, he decided he no longer needed it. Now that they were at their destination, escape was impossible. There was no way either Zyme or the guard could make it through the swamp on their own without him. He tossed the gun aside and it landed with a splash in the water. A huge alligator immediately appeared, ate it, and then disappeared back beneath the murky surface.

Using both feet and his one free hand, Viper climbed up the ladder. He made it up effortlessly. Back when he first found the tree, he'd of course had to stock it with equipment to make a lab, and that involved, of course, carrying armloads of things up the rope ladder. Thusly he made it to the top without much effort, to find both Zyme and Deemer sitting down, panting from the climb.

Now Viper led the way, his tail tip deliberately brushing across Zyme's cheek fur as he walked past him. After catching his breath, Zyme got up and followed him glumly. Deemer stood, looked out over the vastness of the swamp, gulped nervously, then turned and hurried after the other two.

The knot had a knothole, a deep one, which served as a kind of tunnel into the rotted, hollowed-out interior of the tree, which was honeycombed with different "rooms" and chambers, most of which were empty, as Viper lived alone and had no need to furnish every single room. At the end of the tunnel was a small flight of stairs, which Viper had made himself, and the trio climbed up it and into the main hollow of the tree, the biggest one of them all, which served as both Viper's living room and laboratory. There was a ratty couch, two even worse-looking chairs, a crooked, ramshackle coffee table; aside from lab equipment that was about it for the room, surprising given its vastness.

Everything else in the room was devoted entirely to Viper's twisted scientific pursuits. There were several tables, each one crammed to overflowing with beakers, test tubes, and retorts, many heating over bunsen burners, causing the room to be filled with an audible bubbly sound as the insidious concoctions cooked. Viper went over to one of these and unceremoniously swept all of the beakers and flasks right off of it and sent them crashing to the floor, making Zyme and Deemer jump. He then carefully set down all six containers of Katalyst 99, one by one, on the tabletop. Mission accomplished.

Stretching and popping his joints, Viper sighed and adjusted his lab coat, then turned to his two "guests." He was only interested in Zyme. The guard could've drowned out in the swamp, for all Viper cared, and, for now at least, the snake-cat scientist ignored him completely and focused entirely on Zyme.

"Welcome to my humble home," he said, spreading his arms wide, his voice reverberating off the walls. Lowering his arms, he said, "You'll be ssstaying here for quite sssome time."

Zyme, in the meantime, was feeling as hollow as the tree they were in. He was stuck, just as surely as both his lost shoes were stuck out in the swamp. He wondered if anyone would ever wonder what had happened to him? Deputy Mayor Briggs was the only one who had seen him last, and had seen that he'd escaped being eaten by the bacteria monster, but even she must have simply assumed he'd been killed in the explosion that had consumed the entire fourteenth floor.

It would take them months for rescue teams to sort through the burned-out wreck to discover no sign of a body, and only then would they realize he was missing and not simply dead, but by then it would be too late. He coughed. The air was damp and hot, and made his fur all sticky. His clothes were drying out now, at least. He looked over at Viper, who stood, crossing his arms and smirking, his big tail lashing behind him.

Finally, Zyme said, "What do you plan to do with us?"

"Whatever I want," Viper said.

Viper went up to Zyme and stood before him as the other scientist trembled. He couldn't have been happier. His old boss was now, at last, his prisoner, and would remain so for as long as he deemed fit. There so many deliciously evil things Viper wanted to do to him, he didn't know where to start! No, he thought. That would only make Zyme hate him. And although normally he didn't care what anyone thought of him, if Zyme hated him it would mean more resistance and Viper knew he'd tire of it pretty soon and begin to desire obedience from his prisoner. He had to make Zyme like him, but also fear him at the same time. It was a difficult balance that he would have to work to maintain in order to, so to speak, heat Zyme to his desired temperature and keep him there, but it was a challenge he was going to enjoy undertaking.

The easiest course of action would be to appeal to the older biochemist's scientific mind and entice him to assist him in his work. He had a rather delicious plan coming up involving the new Megakat Tower being built, and it was this he had stolen the Katalyst 99 for. Although he didn't actually need an assistant for the work, one would certainly make things easier. But, he realized he couldn't come off as being incapable of following through on threats, and needed to show Zyme he meant business.

Viper moved away from Zyme and stood in the middle of the room for a moment. Zyme wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, but what about that guard? Deemer still stood where he had been a few minutes ago, shaking, completely weirded out by what he had just witnessed. Viper noted how muscular and fit he was. When it came to other cats, Viper preferred to use athletic ones in good health for his monsters because of their solid build.

Up until now he hadn't given it much thought, but as he watched the big guard quivering, he finally decided to mutate him. Once that decision was made, he grinned evilly and walked over to one of his worktables. He perused the apparatus there and finally found a stoppered Florence flask filled with a sickly green liquid. Pulling off the stopper, he then rolled up his sleeve and picked up a scalpel, and cut himself on the back of his forearm, wincing. His green blood dripped down into the flask and mixed with the chemical inside it. The blood wasn't absolutely necessary, but he found it allowed him better control over his creations, and after the way the bacteria monster misbehaved today, he wasn't going to mutate another living thing without adding his blood into the mix.

That accomplished, he watched as the cut healed slowly, a benefit of having regenerative mutagen in him. Then, he picked up the flask and walked over to Deemer as Zyme slowly stood, watching, puzzled. Viper's tail suddenly whipped out and wrapped around Deemer's throat, hauling the guard to his knees, gagging.

Zyme, horrified, cried, "No, wait! You promised you wouldn't kill him!"

"Who said I was going to kill him?" Viper said with a smirk, then upended the flask over Deemer and poured the contents onto his head, then released him.

As soon as the chemicals hit Deemer's head they fizzled and bubble, and, immediately, the guard began to undergo a horrifying transformation. Horrifying for Zyme anyway. Viper enjoyed every second of it.

Deemer stood, gagging. "What's happening to-Aahhhhh!"

Suddenly his arms transformed into thick green tentacles, which split apart his shirt sleeves. His hands ceased to exist. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them, Zyme gasped as they glowed blood-red. Soon all of his fur turned green.

There were loud cracking and snapping sounds and Deemer's legs suddenly split apart three ways each, shredding his pants, the split legs forming into six tentacles, as big as the ones that used to be his arms. This forced Deemer to become shorter, but then his chest swelled, bursting through his uniform shirt, buttons flying everywhere. One hit Zyme in the nose as he watched, shocked. His mouth became larger, with sharp teeth, widening and stretching to take up almost the entire front half of his body. Last of all, his head expanded into an oversized mushroom cap with cat ears on top.

Zyme felt like throwing up. Viper had just turned an innocent guard into a mushroom! He backed away, covering his mouth, completely horrified at having witnessed, firsthand, such a hideous transformation. Taking his hands away from his mouth, he squealed, "No! No, no, noooo! How could you?" Tears flowed from his eyes as he wept for Deemer's horrible fate, watching the awkward-looking mushroom monster he had become trying to move, wriggling its tentacles.

Viper's tail slithered around Zyme's waist and he pulled Zyme over to himself. "He was of no ussse to me otherwissse," he said, sneering. "He'll make a wonderful helper, I think. Don't you agree? He guard your lab, and now he can guard mine." He chuckled.

Zyme gagged, sickened, and felt faint. He struggled wildly, and Viper indulged him by releasing his hold on him, allowing him to break away. Zyme ran a few feet, stopped, then bent over and vomited. Not much, considering his stomach was empty, but he dry-heaved awfully. Viper came over and patted him on the back, acting as if he were a father teaching his son the facts of life, and all throughout behaving as though what had just happened to the unfortunate guard was completely normal.

"What you've jussst seen is what I'll eventually do to everyone in Megakat City, so hisss fate isn't unusual," Viper said, putting his hand on Zyme's shoulder. "And you're going to help me. You'll be my assistant and help my in my experiments, jussst as Purvisss helped you with yoursss." Zyme looked up at him, wiping his mouth. "Together, we'll change the world! Isssn't that what you've alwaysss wanted to do?"

Zyme glared angrily up at him. "Change it for the better, not for the worse! I wanted to help catkind not, not...turn them into some kind of hideous freaks of nature!" He pointed at the mushroom-cat who was slowly getting the hang of moving around using tentacles instead of legs, but was still pretty clumsy.

Viper grabbed Zyme by the collar of his lab coat and hauled him to his feet. "Don't missstake my earlier affections for a genuine liking of you, Zyme," he said. "I'll just as sssson make your share his fate if your disobey me! I'll turn you into nothing but a mindless eating machine, to be usssed by me until you're killed by the SWAT Katsss!"

"No!" Zyme cried, horrified at the thought. "No, please! I'll do anything you want, just, please, don't turn me into...a monster."

Viper grinned. "As long as you obey me, Newton, you have nothing to fear from me." With that, he slid his arm around Zyme's waist and ushered him from the main chamber. 


	3. Viper's Offer

Newton Zyme awoke to find that he was positively sore all over. He was in his "room," which was little more than a narrow enclave just off the main chamber of the tree, lying on a bed which consisted of a mattress held up a couple of feet off the ground by thick roots growing out of the floor. It was tilted at an odd angle, and not very comfortable. As he had his first night here, Zyme had tossed and turned before finally managing to fall asleep, but he slept fitfully, and upon awaking would need some time before his out of shape, middle-aged body could recuperate from such a restless night's sleep.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He half-hoped, as he had before, that the past three days had been merely a dream and that he'd awaken to discover himself back in his own apartment, but as he eyes opened and he beheld the dark bedroom, he realized it was all real. He sighed deeply. He was wearing just his boxer shorts, as he found it impossible to sleep fully-clothed; his lab coat and pants were hanging on the back of a chair a couple of feet away, the only other real piece of furniture to speak off in the dingy little room. Slowly swinging his legs out of bed, his feet touched the soft earthen floor, cool despite the warmth of the swamp, and winced as his toes squished in the moistness. He'd gotten rid of his socks his second day here, figuring he had no further use for them what with both of his shoes lost somewhere out in the swamp.

He stood, stretched, feeling his aching joints pop, feeling a little better. Zyme's bladder felt immensely full; he needed to pee. Retrieving his clothes, Zyme dressed. Like his socks, his undershirt had been gotten rid of as well, because two layers of clothing, on his upper body at least, was unbearable to the scientist in the heat of the swamp. Now, at least, he understood why Viper insisted on running around half-naked! He pulled his pants on, then slipped his lab coat on and buttoned it up, but left the top few buttons undone, including the one that held his collar together; the coat's collar-ends stuck out humorously from either side of Zyme's neck.

Leaving his room, Zyme found the main chamber deserted, and silent apart from the usual sounds of bubbling chemicals coming from the multiple chemical concoctions on Viper's worktable. He walked across the room and ventured down a darker, narrow tunnel opposite the entrance to his "bedroom."

Yesterday and the day before he'd done some exploring of his new home, not much, but enough to know that this tunnel at least led to the outside of the tree trunk, to one of the tree's huge leafless branches. Out onto this Zyme walked, and stopped after going out far enough. He hadn't done enough exploring of the "house" to know where the bathroom was, or even if there was one, and he sure as hell didn't want to ask Viper that question! He unzipped his pants and began to relieve himself.

When he finished, he zipped up and stood there for a few moments looking out over the vastness of the gloomy, mist-shrouded swamp. He wondered if he'd ever see Megakat City again. With a sigh, he he went back inside. Almost immediately, he ran into the six foot tall, green mushroom-cat monster that was once the security guard Deemer.

He startled Zyme, who jumped back, yelping, holding up his hands in a reflexive warding-off gesture, even though, following the guard's transformation the enormous, slobbering tentacled monstrosity had been given explicit instructions by Viper to not harm Zyme.

Remembering this finally, Zyme sighed and lowered his arms, then said to it, "What do you want, 'Fungusface?'" Fungusface was a nickname he'd taken to calling the thing. It seemed as good a name as any for the creature, and he wasn't worried about insulting the former kat. Deemer was long gone. It just snarled loudly in response, though. Trying a different approach, he asked, "Where is Dr. Viper?"

That seemed to work. Sort of. At least it elicited a response that Zyme could understand. Fungusface batted him gently in the shoulder with one of its tentacles, making him stumble a bit, and kept doing this, herding him across the main chamber towards a wide tunnel that Zyme had not explored down yet.

Clearly, though, the monster wanted him to go there, and, not wishing to keep getting smacked with that tentacle the whole way, Zyme sped up his walking, muttering, "All right, I understand, stop pushing!"

Fungusface stopped, but pointed with a tentacle at the tunnel, and Zyme walked into it, the big mushroom-cat wriggling after him. This tunnel was lined with enornous, bloodshot eyeballs, definitely one of the more disturbing decorative touches to Viper's abode. Each eye turned and watched Zyme and his "escort" as they walked past. Zyme could not quite discern their purpose and had figured he was better off not asking.

The eyeball-lined tunnel winded considerably and seemed to lead all the way down to the base of the tree, or perhaps even deeper. Zyme had no way of telling. It was dark and he stumbled several times. The deeper they went, Zyme started to hear bubbling. Did Viper have another lab down here? He didn't doubt it.

Finally reaching the bottom Zyme discovered the tunnel opened into a large chamber, smaller than the main one above but still considerably large. It was lit by several candles as well as a couple of propane lanterns and alcohol lamps, and in the center was a large pit, about eight feet long and six feet wide, filled almost to the brim with what appeared to be mud. It was bubbling, the source of the sounds he'd heard coming down. There were eyes in this room, too. They were closed as Zyme entered, and opened to glance over at him. He shivered.

Dr. Viper was in it, sans his lab coat which hung on a branch nearby that served as a hanger of sorts. He was reclining languidly against the far end of the pool, his arms folded back behind his head, eyes closed. He appeared to be sleeping. However as Zyme walked over and stood at the edge of the pit, his glowing yellow eyes opened and fixated on him, and his previously relaxed, ambiguous expression turned into a wide smirk.

"Ah," he said, "good morning, Dr. Zyme. Did you sleep well?"

"Hardly," Zyme said, frowning, looking down at the mud pool. He dipped a toe into it experimentally. Fungusface entered behind him but didn't come into the room any further. He just stood-well, sat, really, blocking the exit. Zyme eyed him warily, then turned and faced Viper again, crossing his arms.

"My bed isn't exactly very comfortable," he said angrily, unsure why he was confronting Viper like this instead of kowtowing to him like he had the past couple of days. "In fact, my living conditions are downright unbearable."

Viper took his arms out from behind his head, his smirk vanishing. "In casssse you hadn't noticed, Zyme, we're in a ssswamp," he said matter-of-factly.

"I don't mean that," Zyme said. "I just want a regular room and a comfortable bed. You want my cooperation, don't you? Well, you aren't going to get my full cooperation, my full...erm, submission to you by bullying me and treating me like a slave." He half-hoped for Viper to snap his fingers and have Fungusface eat him for his insolence. After only three days here he was already filled with a complete sickness of life, at least with the way things were going now.

Viper shifted a bit in the pool, stroking his large, pointed chin in thought. Perhaps Zyme was right. He remembered the thinking he'd done, back when they'd first returned here, about how he would have to work to make Zyme like him, if only a little bit, in order to gain the older scientist's compliance.

That was before he'd mutated the captured Megakat Biochemical guard into the monster now hovering behind Zyme however. The monster, which had more intelligence than any of his other creations, was turning out to be a worthwhile helper, but Viper wondered whether this benefit was at the expense of any functioning working relationship he might have with Zyme in the near future, given Zyme's horrified, angry reaction to the guard's fate. It was time, Viper decided, to start building up a trust with his prisoner, Viper realized.

"All right," he said finally.

Zyme sighed, relieved. "Thank you," he said, genuinely grateful.

"But that'sss it for now. If you want anything elssse, then you, Zyme, not me, are going to have to bend a little bit. You'll get a bigger room and a larger bed. We even have running water in this place. I insssstalled the plumbing system myssself. Will that do?"

Zyme nodded. "Yes, it'll do. Speaking of which," he said, uncrossing his arms and suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his head, "uh, I've been meaning to ask you, where is the bathroom? I've been wandering all over this place for the past couple of days and I can't seem to find it."

Viper laughed, throwing back his head. Unlike his previous laughs, this wasn't a cruel or insane cackle, just a regular old laugh, but one at Zyme's expense nonetheless. "Ah," he said, "so that'sss why you've been poking around."

"Among other reasons," Zyme said. He wondered briefly how Viper could've known he'd gong exploring, but then he glanced at the eyes on the walls, staring at him.

"Well, you should be careful. A lot of these tunnelssss go on forever. It'sss very easy to get lost, or worssse." Before Zyme could inquire about what could be worse than getting lost in dark tunnels, Viper added, "There'ssse some big drops in this place. Quite a real danger of falling a long way from a great height if you happen to ssstumble. Ssso, I would advise you to refrain from any further exploring until I can properly give you the full tour. Now, as your the bathroom, it'sss upstairsss." He pointed up at the ceiling as he spoke. "In the crown, up above the main room, where my own living quartersss are. Sssatisfied?"

"Yes," Zyme replied, now grateful he'd have somewhere to pee besides off the the branch outside the tree. Idly he ran his fingers through his hair, noticing how matted and grimy it had become. The heat and humidity has caused the hair, which normally curled upwards at sharp angles in the back of his head, to begin to wilt, so that it sort of hung down over his shoulders.

"Good," Viper said. Zyme noticed there was a wine bottle and a couple of martini glasses on the floor beside the rim of the pool to Viper's right. One glass was empty, the other was filled with the bottle's contents, a dark red liquid. Zyme couldn't tell from here but judging by the label's design it looked like a very expensive brand. Viper sifted a bit in the mud again and suddenly his thick, reptilian tail surfaced and began to slowly lash about, lazily flinging rivulets of muddy water. Viper cocked his head at an odd angle, his smirk returning. "Won't you join me?" he asked.

It wasn't really a question. More like a demand with a question mark at the end. Zyme sighed. Without waiting for Fungusface to push him, he came around to Viper's end of the pool. The eyes followed him with their all-seeing gaze. He thought Viper meant to join him for a drink, and prayed he didn't mean he wanted Zyme to get into the mud bath with him.

"That'sss it," Viper urged, beckoning with a finger, "I won't bite." His tail began lashing a little more excitedly, and he drew up his legs so that Zyme could see the tops of his knees poking up from the surface. As Zyme approached, Viper casually reached over and picking up the martini glass. He idly fiddled with the drink stir, which had a live, squirming earthworm stuck on it.

Zyme swallowed, licking his lips, looking up at Viper. The snake-cat merely tilted his head forwards and pulled out the drink stir and eyed the worm squirming on the end. Out slithered his tongue which wrapped around the worm, pulling it off the drink stir, which Viper cast aside. The tongue, worm and all, retreated back into Viper's mouth, and the snake-cat washed his wriggling snack down with the wine, his lips pursing around the rim of the glass. Watching this display make Zyme shudder with revulsion, but at a gesture from his captor he knelt down beside the pool.

When he did, Viper filled the second martini glass with wine from the bottle and handed it to Zyme, who accepted it with a shaking hand, slopping some of the wine out of the glass. Viper then refilled his own glass and held it up, clinking it against Zyme's. "Here'sss to what will not doubt be an...interesssting partnership, Dr. Zyme."

Zyme nodded, uncertain but not desiring to anger the mutant. "Uh, indeed, Dr. Viper," he said, then slowly drank his wine.

Viper drank his in one huge gulp, tossing his head back. Sighing, he threw the glass aside, shattering it against the far wall, and got up, stepping out of the pool, trailing mud off his serpentine body as he went. Fungusface was ready with a pink towel, which he handed Viper. Viper towelled himself off, then turned, facing Zyme, and held his arms out so that the mushroom-cat could slip his lab coat on for him. Adjusting the lapels, he nodded a silent thank-you to the monster, then turned and watched Zyme finish drinking his wine and set the glass aside. Zyme then got up, wobbly, and almost fell in. However he regained his balance, and his composure, coughing and thumping his chest with a fist.

"Now then," said Viper. "It'sss time that we got to work. You and I have much to do."

Viper turned and walked out of the room, followed by Fungusface. He now felt a little better about living with Viper. He still had serious reservations about actually assisting him in turning Megakat City into one huge swamp, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. In the meantime, he realized that he was awfully curious about just what Viper had wanted Katalyst 99 for. Despite its explosive properties it was also a growth formula. Zyme trotted from the room and hurried to catch up to Viper. The eyes on the walls watched him go, but then slowly slid closed once more.

As they went upstairs, Zyme trying very hard to ignore the eyes lining the tunnel walls, Viper began explaining his plans for Katalyst 99, which had something to do with what he called a "spore pod," and that new three-hundred-story skyscraper they were building downtown.

At three-hundred stories, Megakat Tower was the tallest and most modern office building in the entire city. At least, this was the spin Mayor Manx was putting on it. The gigantic skyscraper had been several years in the making, and begun, actually, back when Manx first took office. It was his personal pet project. Although not hurting economically in the least, Megakat City's had always been a relatively self-sustained economy, and many citizens, including the Mayor, had long desired to attract foreign business.

The promise of completing the mammoth skyscraper, the tallest in the world, and using it to attract corporations from other countries, had long been the linchpin of Manx's re-election campaigns. And although, as Elrod Purvis, he had considered the idea to be silly and a waste of money, Dr. Viper now made the Megakat Tower the linchpin of his own scheme to bring change to Megakat City. Although, he intended to change more than simply the economy.

In the months following his death, mutation and subsequent resurrection, Dr. Viper had been routinely checking up on the Tower's progress. Although by the time he ceased to be Purvis and became Viper it had already been mostly completed, the mutant biochemist had wanted to wait until the building was completed entirely. He needed it to be structurally sound if it was to be ground zero for his grandest scheme to conquer the city yet! Every few weeks or so, he would venture out of his beloved swamp and go down to the Tower. It was now mostly finished, and would be opening in just a few short weeks. Perfect, he thought as he peered through the partially opened manhole cover out front.

The construction crews had gone home and there wasn't anyone around except for Viper. Well, Viper and the half cat, half mushroom creature. He remembered Zyme had once referred to it insultingly as "Fungusface." It suited the thing. The large creature was waiting patiently down in the sewer below him. This was the monster's first time out, and he hoped it wasn't going to give him any trouble. After taking a quick look around the courtyard to ensure that there was no one else in sight, Viper motioned for the monster to follow and then climbed out of the manhole and slithered in through the front entrance. Fungusface followed him silently, the large mutant having proven to be surprisingly stealthy, much to Viper's delight.

The lobby was appropriately grand. Viper could care less about the architecture and artwork. He was interested only in the plants. Yes, it seemed luck was more than with him on this venture, for Callie Briggs had decided lots of potted plants on every floor of the Tower would give it a nice natural decorative look. Viper approached one of the plants, a fern, and stroked its fronds lovingly. For some reason, likely due to the Viper Mutagen's origins as a plant growth formula, Viper felt a strange attraction to plants and fungus, more-so than other organisms, even other snakes. It was why his newest creation had been a mushroom. His desire to see all of the plants in the Tower animated as mutants was more than merely a desire of opportunity. If Briggs had, for whatever reason, filled the building with elephants, Viper would've used those. As it stood, though, the fact it would be plants only made it that much more special to him.

"Ssssoon, my lovely," he crooned to the fern. "Ssssoon you will leave the confines of your wretched pot and join the resssst of my creationsss in my new Megasssswamp City."

He turned and began walking across the lobby, towards the hallway he knew led to the building's basement. There, Viper had been setting up a makeshift chemistry lab with all the chemicals he would need to animate the plants in the building when the time came. However he barely made it three feet when the door of a utility room opened and an elderly cat walked out. He was quite old, hunched over, wearing a baseball cap and a long coat, humming some random tune to himself. Viper had seen him before. He was a gardener hired by the Mayor to take care of the plants in the Tower, although Viper didn't know his name.

"Oh, there you go, Sally," he said as he watered a begonia. "Oh, you like that, don't ya? Oh, you're so thirsty. Don't worry, girls, I'll get to the rest of you, too!"

At the moment, he didn't seem to notice either him or the enormous mushroom monster, and simply went about watering the potted plants with a small watering can. Viper decided that the old man had poor eyesight, and likely mistook the two green blurs for just two more plants. Deciding to use this opportunity, Viper silently trotted over and ducked out of sight into the hallway leading to the basement. Ordinarily, Viper would've simply crushed the old man in his coils or allowed his monster to eat him, but if he did that, the Mayor and his associates might wonder where the old gardener had disappeared to, and would surely discover his secret lab in the basement while searching for him. Needless to say, Viper didn't want that. He was too close to success for anything to go wrong now!

But as he reached the basement door he suddenly realized Fungusface wasn't behind him anymore. Turning, he looked back out into the lobby and noticed the creature approaching the gardener from behind. The old fool continued watering the plants and talking to them like they were his children, oblivious to the mutant moving up behind him. Viper sighed, shaking his head as Fungusface lunged forwards, engulfing the unfortunate cat in one huge bite. Well, almost. As Viper walked over, Fungusface turned to him, smiling stupidly, the gardener's weakly kicking legs sticking out from his misshapen mouth. In a couple of quick swallows, however, the legs were sucked in entirely, and the monster gave a loud belch and patted his tummy happily with his tentacles.

"You jussst couldn't help yourssself, could you?" Viper lightly scolded him, bending down and picking up the dropped watering can. "Come on, we've got work to do, and I have to figure out what I'm going to do to keep them from trying to search for the cat you jussst ate!" 


End file.
